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Card Counting:

Card Counting is not what most people think. Most think it is like the movies where you can tell exactly what card is coming next and that it's an easy way to make money. I should tell you it's not an easy way to make money and it's not very easy to learn. If it was such an easy way to make money then everyone would be doing it. Before you learn to count cards you MUST master basic strategy because you will need to use it even when you are counting. Also note that card counting will not work in online casino's because the deck is shuffled after every hand.

What card counting does do is allow the player to figure out if a deck is favorable or unfavorable. Favorable would mean that the deck has alot of ten value cards left while unfavorable means that there are not many left. The card counter won't win any more hands than the person using just basic strategy but he should win more money. The way a card counter does this is by varying his bet. If the deck is unfavorable he will bet the minimum but when it is favorable he will bet more than the minimum.

Playing with just Basic Strategy gets you very close to 50/50 odds, meaning you should break even over the long run even though there will be a lot of ups and downs. However the house usually maintains a slight advantage against Basic Strategy. With Card Counting you can move those odds into your favor by about 1%. This means that over the long run you will win money. You will still experience the roller coaster of ups and downs but after many hours of play you should slowly win money.

Counting Cards is not illegal but it is against the rules at casino's. The biggest tell tale sign that someone is counting cards is the rapid changes in the amount they bet. Good counters can keep a running count while having a conversation and not even looking directly at the cards. Casino's can't throw out everyone who changes their bet but if they see you bet $5 for a while then all of a sudden move up to $200 bets they will figure it out. The best way to avoid being cought is to make your bet changes less drastic.

There are a ton of different counting systems and while some work better than others it's really just a matter of preference. The most basic and easy to learn is High-Low. It also offers close to the same advantage that the more advanced counting systems offer.

Basic High-Low Card Counting:

The way counting works is you start a count(at 0 for high-low) and for each card dealt you either add 1 or subtract 1 from your count. In High-Low the 2-6 cards are valued at +1, and the 10s and Aces are counted as -1. The cards with a value of 7,8,9 are neutral and do not effect your count. You will learn to not even see these cards but focus on the ones that do effect your count. The idea is if a lot of low cards come out your count will be positive(ex. +13) and the deck will be favorable. If a lot of high cards come out your count will be negitive(ex. -13) and the deck will be unfavorable.

Now grab a normal deck of cards(no jokers). Flip the cards up 1 by 1 and maintain a count. When you get to the last card you should be able to tell if it's a 10 value card or a low card without looking at it. You can do this because your count will be +1 or -1 before you look at the last card. If it's +1 then the last card is a 10 value and if it's -1 then its 2-6. If your count is at 0 then the card is a neutral card(7,8,9).

Counting works best when there are as few decks as possible in the shoe and with the smallest cut-off possible. A perfect game for counting would be a one deck game where all or almost all cards are dealt out; However, don't expect to see many games like this.

Practice the card flipping exercise over and over until your speed picks up. Eventually you should be able to count faster than the dealer can deal. When you get good at counting one card at a time start flipping two at a time and practice that. The faster you get the better because you will have to do it without being obvious(no keeping the count on your fingers). You should also practice while distracted by doing it with the TV and radio on to simulate the level of distraction you will face in a casino.

The next step is to convert your running count into a "True Count". To do this you divide your count by number of decks left undealt. So if you have a running count of +8 and there are two decks left in the shoe you divide by 2 and get a True Count of +4. If you are playing a single deck game and half the cards have been dealt and you have a running count of +8 you divide by 1/2 or multiply it by 2/1 or 2 making your True Count +16. In single deck games your True Count will always be more than your running count. The true count is used in your betting decisions.

Mathmaticly you should spread your bets as much as possible($5-$200), so you win more. But this is a sure way to get caught and banned from the casino. In most games you should never bet more than 5 times your minimum bet(ex. $5-$25), but in some multi-deck games you may be able to get away with a little more sometimes(still no more than 10 times your minimum). Some counters depend on their true count to determine their bets. Say you have a count of +2, you then bet 2 times the minimum and for a count of +5 you bet 5 times the minimum. Others wait until there is a higher count before changing their bets, like some may wait until the count is over +10 and then bet 5 times their minimum.

Don't act like a gambler. Act like a tourist or a real estate agent from out of town. Pick something but do not act like you know what you are doing.

Counting takes a lot of work and time to learn and become good at. But if you keep at it and master it you will be part of a elite group of expert counters, some that even do it for a living.

Oh and yes it is worth the time to learn because you will be able to reliably win money everytime you visit a casino. Of course there's still the luck thing that may rear it's head every once in a while and cause you to lose lots of money but overall with counting you should be able to make more than you lose.

Come back and check for updates often as I add info about other counting systems.